Top Forty
by Anatomy Melancholia
Summary: "You've got a problem with love and first sight." When they're drinking, Josef gets quieter and Mick gets loquacious. That's how this always went, which is why they did it so rarely.


A/N: A little bit of crack and a little bit of angst, and BFFs forever. Feedback is always appreciated!

Some nights Mick felt the passage of every month of his life, the long trail of history that was cemented into his memory, still fresh and vivid from vampire recall.

"Josef, have you _seen_ this week's Top Forty? It's ludicrous."

"Mick, give me that paper. You're embarrassing me. You're embarrassing yourself. And you're embarrassing vampiredom."

"She wore meat to the Grammys. Meat. Not just material cleverly made to look like meat. Actual meat." He propped his head on the back of the couch and blinked at the ceiling. The scotch was buzzing nicely in his veins. "There's a porn reference in that somewhere."

Josef laughed. "You want pictures of the afterparty?" he said midly.

"Please, brother, please tell me you didn't."

"Of course not. Discretion can't be compromised." Josef shot a quick glance at Mick over the rim of his glass. "I still have pictures."

"OK, but—" Mick looked around nervously for a second. "Beth never hears about this and we're clear that the music is terrible, right?"

"What? You don't like 'Born This Way'? Wasn't Beth singing that when—"

"Josef. Don't make me stake you."

Josef shuddered. "As long as you don't start singing Gilbert & Sullivan at me again."

Mick was silent for a long second. "You know that's how I met Coraline, don't you?" he said finally. "She had a party. We were playing." He shrugged off the phantom twinge in his throat and his stomach from her name. "Night job. For fun. Paid a little bit more of the rent and well, we didn't have a lot else going for us."

They'd had a lot of scotch, more than usual. Josef got quieter and Mick got loquacious. That's how this always went, which is why they did it so rarely. Even brothers needed some secrets from each other.

Mick's voice dropped and Josef wondered if the wistfulness he was hearing was scotch-driven or real. "She was so beautiful," Mick said. "I'd never seen anything like her before."

"You've got a problem with love and first sight."

Mick laughed. "Yeah," he said and drank some more. "It's all changed so much."

Now, Josef figured, they were really getting to what was bothering Mick. "Everything changes," he replied and lifted his glass to catch the soft light. Amber highlights and blood. There were things more beautiful than women, but not quite. "Cheers."

"Cheers," Mick echoed.

"Not that I'm not enjoying this little tete-a-tete, but what brought this on? Isn't it date night?"

"Beth's working."

"Ah."

Mick's head came back up and he frowned. "What's that supposed to mean."

Josef set his glass down and sighed. "Nothing. But it's three o'clock and the markets never sleep. So would you please tell me what's got your panties in a twist so that I can finish my drink and go make some money?"

"Nothing." Mick stood up and took his glass over to the kitchen counter, grateful for the chance to clear his head. "It's just—" he said and braced himself against the steel countertop. "Almost everyone I know is dead or dying. Everything I know is dead or dying. Even the music. I know you think this is stupid, but Dizzy to Gaga, man. I've been here this whole time. I keep up with it. It's not like I'm stuck in the past, but I can't track that line."

He looked away from Josef, to the bookshelf and the window through which the lights of the city blinked and glowed. "When she came back Coraline played Louis Jordan. I hadn't realised how much I missed it. Missed… everything. That was my _life_. In about ten years, it's just going to be history in a book or on the internet somewhere."

Josef nodded and they let the silence filter all the unsaid words and fears.

"So this thing with Beth," Josef started, hoping to steer the conversation away from that Coraline-shaped black hole. "It's going well I take it. Her scent's everywhere. Her stuff's everywhere. Interesting little tableaux from last night by the way." He smiled hugely at Mick's sudden flush. The sex wasn't surprising in the least, but Blondie's obvious dominance was a hell of a turn-on, even second-hand.

Mick cleared his throat. "Josef…" he began, uneasy and a little on edge.

"Relax." Josef waved a hand at him. "I won't tell anyone about the strap-on."

Mick closed his eyes and tried to breathe.


End file.
